AG2182 Histories and Contemporary Theories of Urban Form - Fundamentals of Urbanism

Three years of studies in city urban planning, architecture, town planning, urban design or landscape architecture. This course is not open to international exchange students.

Lecture based theoretical urban design module, providing students with an advanced introduction to the history and theory of urban form leading up to the contemporary paradigms in urbanism, with a specific emphasis on urban morphology and the fields of knowledge pertinent to the students design investigation and current project work in the studios. Selected exemplary design approaches will be examined through lectures, readings, and seminars including historical paradigmatic change in urban form and design. This course is organized as an advanced seminar facilitating information exchange and discussions. It will focus on the thought, principles and places that have shaped the history, theory and practice of urban design and physical planning. Examples will illustrate how urban form is shaped by both strong blueprint planning/design interventions and incremental historicaal and morphological evolutions. The course will highlight fundamentals of shaping and composing cities and the main elements of urbanism - the neighborhood, the block, the square, the street and the building. The course also reviews the contemporary ideals in urban planning and design - current paradigms in urbanism.

After completing the course requirements, students should be able:

• To advance in the deeper understanding of urban history, theory, urban form of urban design at the scale of building types, and of the translation of these into regulating instruments, such as urban codes.
• To identify main elements of urbanism, those that compose and shape cities and to suggest most appropriate ways to resolve multi-dimensional urban problems in different contexts and scales.
• To explain the thought and design process (criteria) behind certain urbanisms, i.e. ideals, trends and paradigms in urban planning and design.
• To understand the historical roots of urban design, criticisms of modern planning and design, concepts of space and place, urban sustainability issues, and urban design practice.
• To independently assess and critically evaluate the dynamic forces and processes that are associated with urbanism, and have the necessary analytical skills to pursue such urban design and city planning solutions for sustainable urban growth and development as future urbanists - planners and designers.